Alana Gates, professor and chair of the real estate program at Santiago Canyon College (Photo by Drew A. Kelly, Contributor)
Alana Gates’ passion is providing people with the tools they need to succeed in the multifaceted field of real estate.
Gates said he has worked in various capacities in the real estate industry for many years and discovered his passion as an educator after witnessing the struggles of industry professionals who lack the proper training.
“Once you get your license, you’re literally being thrown into the wolves,” Gates said. “It’s sink or swim, and a lot of people sink.”
Currently, as a full-time professor and department chair of the Real Estate Program at Santiago Canyon College, Gates is being recognized for his significant contributions to the field.
She is the recipient of the 2024 Real Estate Education Advancement Award.
The award, presented by the California Community Colleges Real Estate Education Center, “recognizes faculty who have made significant contributions to the advancement of real estate and appraisal education.”
The center is funded by a grant from the California Community College Real Estate Education Fund and provides resources to educators and students seeking professional real estate and appraisal education.
Of California’s 116 community colleges, 68 offer real estate courses.
Gates, who has served as dean and professor for five years, said it was an honor to receive the award.
“And then when we grew the program enough to be able to hire full-time faculty, I was fortunate enough to be selected to be a full-time faculty member,” Gates said, “so I’m very proud to be hired full-time.”
Mr. Gates has played a key role in developing new specialty courses in the real estate curriculum, including legal compliance, transaction adjustments, tenant/landlord rights and responsibilities, and buyer and seller seminars.
She has also streamlined the process of course registration.
“Alana is very collaborative across the state,” says Emily Maynard, director of the Real Estate Education Center. “I think that’s why she stood out among this year’s nominees. When she creates something, she loves to share it with other faculty, which helps advance real estate education. She participates in a lot of our collaborative efforts, not just on the real estate side, but on the appraisal side as well.”
Recognizing the diversity of SCC’s student population, Gates has worked with instructor Barber Cox to spearhead efforts to support Hispanic students, including developing an English/Spanish dictionary and offering elective courses in Spanish.
“Alana is very open and receptive to any ideas that can benefit her students’ learning and endeavors,” Cox said. “Whether it’s developing a new program or a new course, she never shys away from a challenge.”
The Australian-born Gates moved to California with her husband and their two sons in 1999, when her husband was hired by Panasonic Avionics after developing the first in-flight on-demand entertainment system, Gates said.
“He had always wanted to come to America, so we went,” she said. “We went against our kids and told them we were going to emigrate to America.”
After overcoming the challenges of finding a place for her family in a new country, Gates began guiding some of her husband’s colleagues, who had also immigrated from other countries, through the process.
“And as I was doing that, (my husband) said, ‘You’re really good at this job, but you’re wasting your money. You should get certified to be a real estate agent,'” she said.
Following her husband’s suggestion, Gates got a real estate license and began selling homes.
But health problems made it difficult for her to travel out on the roads, so Gates’ broker offered her a job working in the office as a compliance manager.
“Another motivation was that I was in a compliance role, checking files and doing audits. From a transaction coordinator’s perspective and an auditing perspective, I saw that there were a lot of people out there who didn’t know what they were doing and were being thrown to the wolves and trying to find their footing.”
She became interested in the legal side of business and “got hooked and said I wanted to get a degree.”
Gates attended Irvine Valley College, where a counselor encouraged her to pursue a teaching career.
Why not? She thought, so she went to college. Gates earned an associate’s degree in real estate and then a business degree from California State University, Fullerton.
By 2016, she was teaching at a community college.
“So I was like, ‘All right,’ and I just focused on it and I just got on with it. And I love that,” she said.
Gates developed a curriculum that includes lessons focused on all aspects of real estate.
“People don’t know this whole amazing crossover thing,” she says. “We have photography, we have drones. We have lawyers, we have people who like to decorate. We have staging and design companies.”
Gates does outreach work both on and off campus.
The event, scheduled for October, will bring 40 industry experts to campus for students to gather information.
“We did one in April,” she said, “and last year we did one in October. The students are just amazed.”
Read more at the Orange County Register
